Survey: Two-thirds back restoring voting rights to felons

More than two-thirds of residents of Hampton Roads' seven cities say that those with felonies on their criminal records should be allowed to vote, a new report shows.

Old Dominion University's "Life in Hampton Roads" 2016 survey on police and crime, released this week, said 67 percent of respondents think "those with prior felony convictions" should have the right to cast a ballot, with 26 percent saying it's a bad idea.

The survey — based on phone interviews with 962 people in Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk and Virginia Beach — sheds light on how local residents view a crucial aspect of an issue that came to the forefront when Gov. Terry McAuliffe tried to restore voting rights to past felons en masse in April.

Survey respondents were asked to weigh in on this statement: "People with prior felony convictions should be allowed to vote." Nearly half, or 48 percent, said they "agree," while another 19 percent said they "strongly agree." Meanwhile, 16 percent said they "disagree," with another 10 percent saying they "strongly disagree."

The backdrop is that Virginia has one of the nation's toughest rules on stripping convicted felons of their right to vote.

In many states, such rights are restored automatically after the convicts have served their prison time. But in Virginia, it's enshrined in the state constitution that felons lose their right to vote for life — with the exception that the governor can step in to restore them on a case-by-case basis.

According to a report a few years ago from the Sentencing Project, an advocacy group, Virginia trails only four states in the proportion of its citizens disenfranchised. More than 7 percent of the state's voting population of more than 6 million people cannot vote on account of a felony record, the group said. For black residents, the rate is one in five.

Bills at the General Assembly to begin the process of removing that provision from the state constitution have gone down to sound defeats over the years. Meanwhile, several recent governors of both parties have tried to streamline the case-by-case process for restoration.

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"Taking Care of Business" was this year's Hampton State of the City presentation, which included displays from Hampton Schools' Academies' students.

"Taking Care of Business" was this year's Hampton State of the City presentation, which included displays from Hampton Schools' Academies' students.

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"Taking Care of Business" was this year's Hampton State of the City presentation, which included displays from Hampton Schools' Academies' students.

"Taking Care of Business" was this year's Hampton State of the City presentation, which included displays from Hampton Schools' Academies' students.

Democrats Win the House in Midterm Elections, Republicans Hold the Senate. The win puts Democrats in control of the House for the first time since 2010. Democrats are expected to control the House by 230 seats to 205 for Republicans.

Democrats Win the House in Midterm Elections, Republicans Hold the Senate. The win puts Democrats in control of the House for the first time since 2010. Democrats are expected to control the House by 230 seats to 205 for Republicans.

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Voters are turning out more than expected on the peninsula

Voters are turning out more than expected on the peninsula

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Abraham Lincoln Is Elected President November 6, 1860 Receiving only 40% of the popular vote, President Abraham Lincoln defeated three other candidates to become the first Republican President.

Abraham Lincoln Is Elected President November 6, 1860 Receiving only 40% of the popular vote, President Abraham Lincoln defeated three other candidates to become the first Republican President.

But McAuliffe raised the stakes in April, when he signed an executive order restoring voting rights to some 206,000 convicted felons — for both violent and non-violent crimes — who have served all their prison time and supervised probation.

McAuliffe said he was acting to help these people to reintegrate back into their society and communities. But Republicans contended he was trying to deliver those votes — which the GOP assumed to be mostly left-leaning — in November to his friend and political ally, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

Republicans then sued McAuliffe to block the move, contending his executive order overstepped his constitutional authority.

In July, the Virginia Supreme Court sided with the GOP, ruling 4-3 that McAuliffe had indeed gone too far with his order's "unprecedented scope, magnitude, and categorical nature." The court then rescinded his order, essentially sending the issue back to square one, with the governor able to act on restorations only one at a time.

As of Wednesday, the governor's office said McAuliffe has restored voting to 58,983 convicted felons since the beginning of his term, including 41,024 under a newly streamlined restoration process announced in August.

The issue isn't going away. It's widely expected to be revisited by lawmakers in the upcoming General Assembly session.

Senate Majority Leader Thomas K. "Tommy" Norment Jr., R-James City, for one, has a proposed constitutional amendment that takes the governor out of the process entirely. That proposal says those convicted on non-violent felonies would have their voting rights restored automatically, with no process available for those convicted of violent felonies.

A statewide survey in June by the left-leaning Public Policy Polling, in Raleigh, N.C., found that 65 percent of Virginia respondents backed McAuliffe's restoration effort. That included 85 percent of Democrats, 61 percent of independents and 43 percent of Republicans, the survey said.

McAuliffe spokesman Brian Coy said the results of both surveys "illustrate that the governor is taking the right actions here for the right reasons," to "give people a voice in the community where they live."

"Virginians get that," he said. "Restoring the rights of people who have made a mistake but are now living and working and paying taxes in communities like Hampton Roads is the right thing to do. This issue has been so politicized — including by people who represent Hampton Roads, like Senator Norment."

Coy said Norment's proposed amendment is a bad idea because it leaves those convicted of violent crimes with "no hope" to ever vote again. "So if you get into a bar fight when you're 17, you would have no right to ever get your rights restored," he said. "But if you're Bernie Madoff, you would."

Jeff Ryer, a spokesman for Norment, denied the GOP has played politics with the issue. "The governor politicized the process by going outside the constitution and trying to act as the law unto himself — which is exactly what the Supreme Court said in its opinion," Ryer said. "There's a right way to do this and a wrong way, and Senator Norment is proposing the right way, which is the constitutional amendment process."

Ryer asserted that "it should be more difficult" for those convicted of violent crimes to vote. "He talks about someone in a barroom fight," he said of Coy. "But what about the serial predator? What about the rapist? What about the murderer?"

Prior governors, Ryer said, have previously focused their restorations on non-violent offenders. And state Democrats, he said, heavily backed a 2013 bill from Sen. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, that would have begun the process to automatically restore voting rights only to non-violent offenders.

Amending Virginia's constitution requires approval by two legislative sessions — separated by a general election — and then must be put before voters in a statewide referendum. "The people of Virginia get to decide this," Ryer said. "That's why it's done through an amendment process."

In another result of the ODU survey, 66 percent of respondents said they thought that "people with prior felony convictions should be able to apply for state jobs." That is, 53 percent said they "agree" with that, while 13 percent said they "strongly agree." Meantime, 20 percent said they "disagree" and 8 percent said they "strongly disagree."

On another question, 60 percent of respondents said landlords should be obligated to rent to those with felonies. Of the statement, "A private landlord should be able to automatically disqualify people with prior felony convictions from being able to rent housing," 46 percent said they "disagree," and 14 percent said they "strongly disagree." Just over 27 percent said they "agree," while 6 percent said they "strongly agree."